Collection Information
Size: Sound recording: 4 Sound cassettes; 157 Pages, Transcript
Summary: An interview of Rafael Ferrer conducted 1990 Sept. 19, by Cynthia Veloric, for the Archives of American Art Philadelphia Project.
Ferrer speaks about his childhood in Puerto Rico; his education in Catholic school and military school; his interest in music including his professional work as a drummer in Latin jazz bands both in Puerto Rico and New York City; studies at Syracuse University and the University of Puerto Rico; his interest in painting; meeting the surrealist Eugenio Granell and Granell's influence, including Ferrer's involvement in the 1950's with surrealists in Puerto Rico and Europe, and a discussion of his feelings on Dada and surrealism; the shift toward conceptual and process art in the 1960's; moving to Philadelphia in the 1960's, teaching at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) and exhibiting at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; installations and exhibits in New York City in the late 1960's and 1970's, including his twenty year association with the Nancy Hoffman Gallery; the deflected fountain piece at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the transition to handmade art works and then to painting and figurative works partially inspired by Alex Katz; collectors Sydney and Frances Lewis; and several commissions.